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H.G.'s Guide to Workplace Harassment	By : dezzu Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 8404 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The staff room was cool, silent, and dark when he entered—conditions that he was especially grateful for after his lengthy journey through the halls to reach it.
He was always the first to arrive to these things. He lit a few sconces and took his usual seat, unfolding the latest copy of the Daily Prophet, intent on skimming a few paragraphs in solitude before being interrupted by the other attendees.
Several house elves appeared behind him, bearing trays of empty cups and pitchers of ice water that they quietly placed on a table in the far corner before disappearing.
He’d made it about 5 words into the predictions for next week’s weather before the rasp and quiet creak of the door’s ancient hardware broke the silence.
Looking up from the paper and nodding briefly at the smiling faces of the two professors that entered together, he then dropped his eyes and resumed his perusal of the news as they chatted quietly and quenched their thirst behind him.
As more professors and staff members lumbered and shuffled into the room—one in particular bounding in and shouting a greeting with what he considered to be a downright unnecessary level of enthusiasm—his inclination to look up and acknowledge them all quickly dwindled until he no longer lifted his eyes from the words on the page before him.
Shoes, pant legs, skirts, and robes moved and rustled around the edges of his vision. He snorted at the thought of anyone wearing robes in this heat. Jokes and greetings between old and new friends were exchanged, and the temperature of the room slowly began to rise as the number of bodies within its walls increased. Through all this, his eyes didn’t leave the page until he heard the voice of their Headmistress, causing him to fold his paper and quickly stand up.
After a few opening statements and a quiet round of applause, introductions of the newest staff members began.
A caretaker for some obscure section of the grounds was first; a bumbling, middle-aged man with skin like worn leather that he could barely hear from his place towards the back of the room. Then, a new Medi-nurse’s assistant; the simpleton who had bounded in like a rabbit, wearing, in his opinion, too much dark makeup around her eyes and with light blond hair in two braids like a little girl’s. The crowd in front of him suddenly shifted just enough that he lost sight of the front of the room.
Lastly, the Professor of Muggle Studies. He heard several quiet snorts around him at the mention of her title, but kept his own breath in check.
Many in the wizarding world had felt that Hogwarts had sunk to a new low in adding classes on Muggles and their lifestyles to the prestigious school’s curriculum. He’d save his judgements on the courses’ relevance and content quality for much later in the school year.
To him, the teaching role itself seemed like a dead end for a young witch that he remembered having so much talent and potential.
She was standing just enough to the right that he couldn’t see her through the bodies in front of him. He barely heard her softly-spoken thanks to the Headmistress. Everyone clapped, and then the introductions were over.
After about fifteen minutes’ worth of mind-numbing proselytizing about new beginnings, duties, and teamwork, they were finally released from the meeting.
More than a little eager to return to the cool quiet of the dungeons, he began weaving his way between the chattering bodies blocking his path to the door. He exited successfully with only having to acknowledge three of his colleagues with some nods and raising of eyebrows on the way out, his newspaper tucked under his arm.

***

As she faked enthusiasm she didn’t feel during her introduction, she could just see the top of his head over the crowd before her.
Just a sliver of his pale forehead. The dead-center part of his inky hair. The tip of an iceberg.
Her mouth felt dry as her introduction ended. She smiled broadly towards no one in particular and stepped away into the nearest empty space, glad to be out of the spotlight in front of people she knew weren’t necessarily rooting for her success.
She took a sip from the cup of cool water her friend Olive slipped wordlessly into her hand.
In about two hours, the sun would set. Nightly rituals would begin.
Of most immediate concern to Professor Hermione Granger were the evening routines of her former Potions professor, Severus Snape.
The meeting was finally over. She watched his retreating form over the top of her cup, her eyes lingering on the newspaper clutched so reverently between his elbow and torso.

***

H.G.’s Guide to Workplace Harassment

Getting Started: Your Subject’s Interests and Habits
Build a comprehensive profile of your subject.
The way they take their tea. Their favorite vintages and spirits. How, when and where they get their clothes laundered. The number of buttons on the front of their coat. The soap they use. The sections of periodicals that they always read; the ones that they tend to skip. No detail should be beneath your notice whenever you have the opportunity to observe your subject.
Learn the sources of supplies and services that your subject uses in their daily life.
Knowing the inbound and outbound path of all objects and communications—from where inks, papers and toiletries are purchased most often, down to the fireplace used the most often for Floo-based activity—is key to your ability to build highly-effective experiments.
Habits and schedules, whether long-term or newly-formed, occurring within the workday or after-hours, round out your comprehensive profile and greatly influence the timing with which you’ll reach particular milestones. Goal-building, short- and long-term objective examples, and sample project plans are covered in the next chapter.
Rely heavily on your own ability to memorize plans and details related to your subject and the experiments you conduct. Putting words to paper and keeping them within your posession, unless properly secured with the appropriate inks and wards, could lead to the untimely and potentially embarrassing discovery of your experiments with your subject.
Some basic tips for securing your experiment plans and data are listed at the end of this chapter. Levels of security, based on the unique needs and situations of every potential type of researcher, would be impossible to cover in this volume; as such, a list of supplementary reading on this topic can be found in the Appendix.
At the end of this chapter, you will find charms and enchantments that can be applied to objects—items that just about every adult witch and wizard uses—that will allow you to gain further insight into the habits and preferences of your subject. Specific examples of usage will be included, but do not consider these examples to be an end-all, be-all list of ways to utilize these tools. Get creative!
Utilize outside resources to gather information on your subject—preferably through anonymous connections.
Lastly, do not trust individuals within the workplace—whether they are directly or indirectly connected with you, your employer, or your subject—with any hints related to the interest you hold in your subject, or details of the research and experiments you’re undertaking.
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H.G.'s Guide to Workplace Harassment